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Following The Freemakers: The Kyber Saber Crystal Chase

FREEEEEEEMAKERRRRRRRR TIIIIIIIIIIIME *blows air horn*
Was I out of ideas for an opener? Yes, yes I was. Here at Padawanline we’re an honest bunch. And by “we’re” and “bunch”, I mean “I’m” and “person”, but it sounded better using the royal “we”. Yep this ought to be an interesting blog today! Let’s get started digging into the fast-paced excitement of The Kyber Saber Crystal Chase!NOTE: Contains spoilers from Episode III, The Empire Strikes Out, and Freemakers episodes Peril On Kashyyyk, The Test and The Kyber Saber Crystal Chase

We reunite with the Freemakers right where we left off last episode as they finish up final repairs on the StarScavenger. With a new Kyber Saber fragment in hand and their ship “purring like a nexu”, things are looking hopeful for the first time since yesterday’s frightening events (or however long it’s been… the amount of time that passes in SW confuses me sometimes). Then came a peppering of laserfire from Graballa’s fleet. And the Eclipse Fighter’s joined in too. Freemakers be like “HOW EVEN???” But before they know it, Naare Force-grabs the kyber crystal right out of Rowan’s hands. OH NOES WHYYYYYY. *Sigh* So much for hope. Time for the Freemakers to get the heck outta Tako-Dodge. They set their hyperspace for “anywhere” and fly off. Despite this, Naare doesn’t seem worried. And when a villain doesn’t fret over their prey getting away… it usually means they’ve got something else planned…
None of the Freemakers can figure exactly how she found them, especially when there’s no tracking device on their ship. Rowan feels terrible that, once again, he’s allowed pieces of the ultimate weapon to fall into their enemy’s hands. But Kordi surmises if they can keep at least one crystal out of Naare’s grasp, she won’t be able to reconstruct the Saber and the galaxy will be saved. So Rowan decides they’re heading to a certain water planet I’ve already forgotten the name of to grab the next crystal. To navigate the planet’s depths, Zander reveals his newest creation, the Z-Sub. Unfortunately for him, his siblings find his technological marvel to be adorable. I’d say I get Zan’s feelings on the matter, but it really is pretty darn cute :3 I know I wanna build that Lego set when it comes out! Kordi henceforth and forevermore dubs it the Bubbly Subbly. The Freemaker firstborn is not amused, buuuuut he ends up going with it anyway. To the deep blue sea! Ugh I gotta tell ya I am not good with new planet names… if it’s not readily accessible in the starwars.com databanks I won’t have a clue how to spell it, if I remember it at all! 😛 It is a really cool planet though. I wonder if it’s got any sentient life on it, or if it’s just a wild planet like Dagobah. It certainly does have life on it though, as it seems a massive anglerfish-like beast is using the Saber fragment as a light source. I’m guessing that the ancient Jedi probably didn’t hide it there. The fish probably found the crystal and took it for itself later on. The idea of a creature that uses found objects for their lures is seriously cool. Even though yeah it’s causing some major problems for our heroes today. The fish gives chase for a while until the Freemakers realize their now-broken light was competing with his lure. Once Rowan repairs it with the Force, the creature and the sub make a trade and go on their merry ways. Success! But then… NAARE?? AGAIN?? With the Fighter tethered to the sub, their best move is to head back underwater. The Agent’s ship was built for the stars, not the sea, which works well in the Freemaker’s favor as the Eclipse Fighter’s controls get fried. Zander made a spectacular move as he shot the sub back into the StarScavenger, but unfortunately, though the Fighter couldn’t fly, Naare still swiftly takes the new crystal for her own. Kordi insists Roger get get them into hyperspace now… while they’re still on the planet. What happens is magnificent. The force of the lightspeed jump causes the waters to rise in a massive wave. And Naare and her spacecraft are caught right in it. Truly MAGNIFICENT. But the score remains Naare: 2. Freemakers: 0. And Naare is well-aware of this. She’s usually so… well, short-tempered, to put it mildly. I’m seriously impressed with how chill she’s been today. But honestly she’s even scarier when she’s chill than when she’s full-blown enraged. Also the thing with Graballa and Dengar. It seems Vader’s not the only one to show up late for his dramatic entrance XD
Ooh finally a new paragraph! So the Freemaker’s next stop is Naboo. Beautiful, peaceful, well-populated-enough-to-help-them-lay-low Naboo! Unfortunately it’s also the Naboo that’s home to the new Palapatine Museum. OMG THIS CONCEPT. IT IS PERFECT. AND MAKES SO MUCH SENSE. Why wouldn’t the Emperor have a whole educational building dedicated to his greatness on his homeworld? Of all the places to hide a Kyber Saber crystal though…! Also Wic Cooper, “Palpatine’s biggest fan“, literally cuts in line to get the most expensive tour they’ve got. And this is a museum dedicated to Darth Sidious. Cooper you have no clue how messed-up this all is. Anyway, this calls for a master plan! That’s why R0-GR’s puttin’ on his fake ‘stache. OK actually Zander’s the one with the master plan, but it does still involve the droid. Zan’s just an ordinary deliveryman with a droid for the Clone Wars exhibit! But as soon as he runs into Durpin and Plumestriker… he’s an ordinary deliveryman with a fake mustache. Oh yes I missed Durpin and Plumestriker! It’s been too long! Now they’re museum officials, and Durpin is happy just to be doin’ nothing much of anything. Plumestriker doesn’t seem to share the opinion but he is Durpin’s subordinate, so whatcha gonna do, right? But while they go about their “business” (read: playing dejarik), the Freemakers go about some business of their own. With Roger on the inside, the sibs are able to get in without a hitch. But about two seconds in Zander darts off to the gift shop. I don’t blame him I have a serious thing for museum swag. And museums in general. Were I living in their galaxy I’d probably not be as fond of the Imperial merch, but in this galaxy, all I want right now is that little AT-AT XD Kordi and Rowan remind him to remain focused (and also that btdubs Palpatine wouldn’t bat an eyelash at killing them so why would you buy his merch?) but man… this museum is a treasure trove of beautiful distractions. Roger goes off to talk to some old (deactivated) friends, Zander can’t resist the allure of the vintage starships… even Kordi isn’t immune when she eyes all the pretty Queen Amidala dresses! That made me laugh so hard, because honestly I’m just like her in that way. Most of the time, I’ll dress casually and chill livin’ my average-American life, but I do love to dress up and act fancy from time to time XD Who knew financially-attuned Kordi would have such rich tastes? Also I really like the museum covers more than just Palpatine himself, but every aspect of his devious plan, which I just realized is actually kinda sad… but at risk of me talking about Clone Wars philosophy I should just move on back to the story. I never thought I’d see the day when Rowan had more focus than the rest of his family, but that day has come. OK well he was briefly distracted by a floor buffer, but still not as long as the others. Not that things go perfectly by any means though. Rowan was startled by a Palpatine animatronic and backed into a giant Palpatine statue that knocked over the other Palpatine statues and I’m literally already tired of saying “Palpatine” in this paragraph. And then one thing led to another and there was a… small explosion. Who’s bright idea was it put fully-armed blasters and N1 starfighters on display anyway?? Plumestriker won’t let Durpin ignore that. So he presses an alarm button and from behind the doors come a whole squad of storms. Wait… were those stormtroopers standing behind the door the whole time? Just waiting for something to go wrong? That must be insanely boring. But either way, it’s time for action! Whether Durpin likes it or not! Another question: though Kordi absolutely rocked the classic Queen Amidala dress, how did she do the makeup? Did they have actual samples of the makeup on display or does she actually carry some face paint around? And how’d she do it in the dark to begin with? The world may never know, but again, it’s fun seeing the secretly-fancy side of the Freemaker Bosslady. But now they’ve got stormtroopers staring them down with the dork Imps in tow. Plumestriker recognized them and had no problem ordering his men to fire… until THE EMPEROR HIMSELF SHOWED UP. I wasn’t really freaked out though, I figured it might’ve been Rowan taking advantage of the 50% off sale on the Palpatine voice changers. He orders them to let the “generous donors” go and Durpin is happily demoted to ensign. And turns out the kyber crystal was hidden away in the Queen’s headpiece. Y’know wow that must be one ancient headpiece if that was where the Jedi had hidden it all along. Wonder if Padme or Sabe ever noticed the small sharp pain whenever they put it on? And also why the ancient Jedi thought that was a good hiding place. But either way it worked out well for the Freemakers! Oh they weren’t gonna get off that easy though… look! It’s Naare! Again! And this time with Dengar! Of course this couldn’t just be easy. Also funny Kordi and Zander and I were thinking the same thing when Roger pulled out a loaded blaster on their foes. It just seems like an all-around bad idea, man! Insurance must be steeeeeep. But then again this is Palpatine we’re talking about “I AM THE INSURANCE!” XD Naare faces Rowan head-on this time, clearly looking forward to another win. But this time, Rowan fights back and Force-grabs it himself. Oooh Force fights are always fascinating to me. Who has the greater focus, who has the stronger ability? Unfortunately (also getting kinda tired of saying that), Naare gets into his head and takes it for herself. However, Rowan’s not going down without a fight, and unsheathes the red blade. OK am I the only person who really loves the imagery here? Our hero is clothed in black and fights with a red lightsaber, while our villain wears the traditional garb of a Jedi and wields a blue-blade. It’s seriously fascinating. As though an illustration that the light and dark lie in all, regardless of who we believe we are. No Sith is too far gone unless they choose to do so. Just as no Jedi is 100% pure of heart all the time. We’re human. We’re imperfect. But we always have a choice. After this episode I definitely toyed around with the wondering if Rowan might ever walk down the dark path Naare did, and if she might ever return to the light. Oh I just love talking SW philosophy! It’s so legittttt. This duel was equal parts exciting and terrifying, as we’re finally getting to see Rowan in a duel, but we’re all aware he’s not as well-trained as Naare is… and she fights dirty and mercilessly. So I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, knowing that one move and someone could be dead. Or minus a limb. And darn it all, Naare won again as she slammed Rowan’s lightsaber out of his grip, and followed that up by Force-grabbing him and throwing him into the N1. Now she approaches Rowan with two blades in hand, dragging them along the ground, surely about to end her pawn’s life, and I’m basically sick with fear at this point. “With me, you could’ve reached your destiny”. To which Rowan awesomely replies “I’m going to reach for something else.” Anyone else just realize how amazing that line is? Naare implies his destiny could’ve been with the dark, but Rowan knows he has a choice. Also it was a pun because he was about to drop the N1 on her, but it’s still amazing all the same. And like that, the starfighter explodes and sets off a chain reaction, most certainly sending everyone packing. With the museum falling down around them, it looks like the only kyber crystal they’ve got was in the blue-blade Rowan has now claimed as his own. It’s only when they’re aboard the StarScavenger once more they find out exactly how it is she knew their every move… Roger’s pack O.O *SHOCKING TWIST*
Turns out Naare actually somehow survived the wreckage. I was relieved in some ways because she’s an awesome villain and I didn’t really want her dead yet if she was going to die at all, but I was also kinda freaked out because… well, she’s a villain. And she’s only a a centimeter away from reconstructing a handheld superweapon. Though as Graballa suggests, she gonna have to do some explainin’ to her boss regarding all this property damage… but that’s not important right now. The Imperial Agent’s quest is almost complete. Everything that happens in the next few episodes will determine the very fate of the galaxy. *OMINOUS ENDING AGAIN*
Oh wow oh wow what an episode! So great I kinda messed it up at the end. I do regret to say this’ll be the last Following The Freemakers post for a while, since we’ll soon be reuniting with the Rebels. If I could I’d write about SW all day, but I can’t. But I’ll most definitely write on the next episode when I can. So thank you for joining me and let’s get hyped for SWR Season 3!